College & Career Ready Students

College and Career Ready is a phrase you hear a lot about these days in education.  Topeka Public Schools is committed to preparing all students to be college and career ready upon graduation.  This morning, school district leaders and representatives of business, industry, government and higher education met to talk about the subject.  “The meeting is to ask for input from business and industry about what we need to do to prepare our students for their future careers.” said Superintendent Dr. Julie Ford.  “That may include college, technical school or could be on the job training.  What do we need to do as a district to get there.”   

KBS Constructors Vice President Neal Fisher was one of those attending the meeting.  “There’s more and more competition for the skills that we need to keep our business going, so the ability and opportunity to get involved and create that pool of qualified employees is huge.” 

Ideas and information gathered at the meeting will help Topeka Public Schools design courses that will help prepare students for a job or career, but also help businesses and economic development in the Topeka area.“The information we get will be implemented into our post secondary and career vision for preK-12^th grade as well as developing specific courses and programs that we can offer in our secondary schools beginning in the fall of 2013,” said Director of School and Career Programs Eileen Caspers.

Topeka Public Schools already offers students courses in robotics, bio-technology and health care.  The school district is also introducing students to future careers through internships and partnerships with Westar Energy, Stormont-Vail HealthCare and other local businesses.